[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 128 (Friday, October 13, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Pages S10590-S10591]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. ABRAHAM:
  S. 3206. A bill to amend the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets 
Act of 1968 to provide additional protections to victims of rape; to 
the Committee on the Judiciary.


               the victims of rape health protection act

  Mr. ABRAHAM. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce the Victims of 
Rape Health Protection Act. This legislation would facilitate health 
treatment of rape victims by empowering victims with the ability to 
determine at an early date whether or not their attacker carried the 
Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), the virus that causes AIDS.
  Mr. President, in addition to a rape survivor being forced to live 
with the horrific elements commonly associated with the act of rape, 
rape victims simultaneously are threatened by yet another cruel 
aggressor, the HIV disease. Current medical technology is limited in 
its ability to detect HIV in the body during the initial stages of 
infection; as such, if the victim must rely on self-testing alone, the 
presence of HIV may not be evident for months.
  Reports from both the American Medical Association and a study 
published in the April, 1997, New England Journal of Medicine outline 
the merits of early action in the fight against HIV. As immediate and 
intensive administration anti-HIV drugs has been shown to greatly 
reduce the risk of HIV infection, early knowledge of whether or not a 
victim has been exposed to the virus is imperative to embarking on 
critical, potentially life-saving courses of medication.
  Mr. President, ten years ago Congress passed a law that allowed rape 
victims to compel testing of their attacker upon conviction. Over the 
years medical science has made important advancements in the fight 
against AIDS, and it is time for the law to follow suit. Today, I wish 
to challenge the current inadequate policies which exist in some 
states, and allow victims of rape early access to their assailants' HIV 
screen results.
  Where there is any risk of transmission of the virus, this 
legislation would require states to actively screen rape defendants for 
HIV and disclose the results to the victim within forty-eight hours of 
an indictment or information. Beyond notification of the victim, test 
result confidentiality would be determined by the individual states as 
they see necessary to protect the privacy of their citizens. Federal 
Byrne Grant funding would be made available to the states in order to 
help pay for the testing; states which refuse to operate in compliance 
with these testing requirements would be subject to a ten-percent 
reduction of their Byrne Grant funds.
  Mr. President, I have read far too many stomach-churning accounts of 
both female and male rape victims, at every age, where early knowledge 
of a sex offender's HIV status--positive or negative--may have spared 
the victim unnecessary mental anguish, or possibly, may have spared the 
victim's life. At this time, I would like to share a few of these sad 
stories with my colleagues.
  In the summer of 1996, a seven year old girl was brutally raped by a 
57 year old man. The little girl and her five year old brother had been 
lured to a secluded, abandoned building in the East New York section of 
Brooklyn. The man raped and sodomized the girl. Her brother, meanwhile, 
was beaten, tied up and forced to witness his sister's rape. After the 
man's arrest, the defendant refused to be tested for HIV. His refusal 
was permitted by the state's laws. The man latter told the police he 
was infected with HIV.
  In New Jersey, three boys gang-raped a 10 year-old mentally-retarded 
girl. The girl's family demanded that the boys be tested for HIV; these 
requests were denied. Three years after the girl was raped and the boys 
were convicted, the family was still fighting to learn the HIV status 
of the rapists.
  A Maryland man with HIV sexually assaulted an 11 year-old boy for 
over a year. It was not until the man's trial that it was learned he 
was infected.
  Mr. President, I do not believe I need to elaborate further on this 
subject. I believe we have a unique opportunity to help ease the stress 
and suffering of women and children mercilessly raped and wounded by 
sexual predators, and in the process, we will change a system which 
currently favors the so-called privacy of sex offenders over the health 
of their victims. I implore my colleagues to support the Victims of 
Rape Health Protection Act. May we finally deliver a higher degree of 
security and safety to rape victims, regardless of age or gender. Mr. 
President, I ask for unanimous consent that the text of this 
legislation and a letter from Ms. Deidre Raver, a rape survivor who has 
championed this cause for years, be inserted in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                                S. 3206

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Victims of Rape Health 
     Protection Act''.

     SEC. 2. BYRNE GRANT REDUCTION FOR NONCOMPLIANCE.

       (a) Grant Reduction for Noncompliance.--Section 506 of 
     title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 
     1968 (42 U.S.C. 3756) is amended by adding at the end the 
     following:
       ``(g) Sex Offender HIV Testing.--
       ``(1) In general.--The funds available under this subpart 
     for a State shall be reduced by 10 percent and redistributed 
     under paragraph (2) unless the State demonstrates

[[Page S10591]]

     to the satisfaction of the Director that the laws or 
     regulations of the State with respect to a defendant against 
     whom an information or indictment is presented for a crime in 
     which by force or threat of force the perpetrator compels the 
     victim to engage in a sexual act (as defined in subsection 
     (f)(3)(B)), the State requires as follows:
       ``(A) That the defendant be tested for HIV disease if--
       ``(i) the nature of the alleged crime is such that the 
     sexual act would have placed the victim at risk of becoming 
     infected with HIV; and
       ``(ii) the victim requests the test.
       ``(B) That if the conditions specified in subparagraph (A) 
     are met--
       ``(i) the defendant undergo the test not later than--

       ``(I) 48 hours after the date on which the information or 
     indictment is presented; or
       ``(II) 48 hours after the request of the victim if that 
     request is made after the date on which the information or 
     indictment is presented;

       ``(ii) the results of the test shall be confidential except 
     as provided in clause (iii) and except as otherwise provided 
     under State law; and
       ``(iii) that as soon as is practicable the results of the 
     test be made available to--

       ``(I) the victim; and
       ``(II) the defendant (or if the defendant is a minor, to 
     the legal guardian of the defendant).

     Nothing in this subparagraph shall be construed to bar a 
     State from restricting the victim's disclosure of the 
     defendant's test results to third parties as a condition of 
     making such results available to the victim.
       ``(C) That if the defendant has been tested pursuant to 
     subparagraph (B), the defendant, upon request of the victim, 
     undergo such follow-up tests for HIV as may be medically 
     appropriate, and that as soon as is practicable after each 
     such test the results of the test be made available in 
     accordance with subparagraph (B) (except that this 
     subparagraph applies only to the extent that the individual 
     involved continues to be a defendant in the judicial 
     proceedings involved, or is convicted in the proceedings).
       ``(2) Redistribution.--Any funds available for 
     redistribution shall be redistributed to participating States 
     that comply with the requirements of paragraph (1).
       ``(3) Compliance.--The Attorney General shall issue 
     regulations to ensure compliance with the requirements of 
     paragraph (1).''.
       (b) Conforming Amendment.--Section 506(a) of title I of the 
     Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 is amended 
     by striking ``subsection (f),'' and inserting ``subsections 
     (f) and (g),''.
       (c) Funding.--Section 501(b) of title I of the Omnibus 
     Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 is amended--
       (1) in paragraph (25), by striking ``and'' after the 
     semicolon;
       (2) in paragraph (26), by striking the period and inserting 
     ``; and''; and
       (3) by inserting at the end the following:
       ``(27) programs to test defendants for HIV disease in 
     accordance with the terms of subsection (g).''.
       (d) Effective Date.--
       (1) Program.--The amendments made by subsections (a) and 
     (b) shall take effect on the first day of the fiscal year 
     succeeding the first fiscal year beginning 2 years after the 
     date of the enactment of this Act.
       (2) Funding.--The amendment made by subsection (c) shall 
     take effect on the date of enactment of this Act.
                                  ____

       Dear Senator Abraham: I understand that you are interested 
     in sponsoring legislation that would provide rape victims the 
     opportunity to quickly learn if they have been exposed to the 
     HIV virus. I have been associated with this compelling issue 
     for many years as an advocate for crime victims and thank you 
     for considering the health issues that a rape victim is 
     forced to deal with following a horrific experience. As a 
     survivor of rape myself. I personally know how traumatic it 
     is to wait for medical information regarding exposure to the 
     many frightening venereal diseases that exist, not to mention 
     the possibility of pregnancy occurring.
       A rape victims needs to learn the HIV status of their 
     assailants when making decisions with her doctor about taking 
     risky drug medications. The only way for a victim to know if 
     she has been exposed to the HIV virus is to test the 
     assailant because of the 16-week infection time window 
     period. It is inhumane and cruel to deny rape victims the 
     right to learn of their assailants' H.I.V. status early 
     enough to eradicate the virus, if exposed.
       Currently, in states like mine, a person accused of rape 
     cannot be involuntarily tested for the AIDS virus until he is 
     convicted of the crime, which can be years later. The H.I.V. 
     test becomes a plea bargaining tool for defense attorneys to 
     use, reducing the sentencing of violent sex offenders to non-
     felony convictions. Our current laws force prosecuting 
     attorneys to choose between prosecuting violent criminals or 
     protecting the health of the victims.
       New York has had its share of horrific cases where an 
     arrested rapist will have boasted to the victim of a positive 
     H.I.V. status and then refuse to take the test on the advice 
     of a defense attorney. I was personally outraged by a case in 
     Brooklyn where a fifty-seven-year old man raped a little girl 
     next to her five-year-old brother and then declared to police 
     that he had AIDS upon arrest. The Brooklyn District 
     Attorney's Office could not force the arrested man to take an 
     HIV test.
       In order for states to qualify for AIDS funding, they 
     should have legal provisions in place to allow rape victims 
     to test arrested assailants for HIV, no exceptions. Our laws 
     should not aggravate the terror that rape victims face when 
     coping with their fear of the attacker and the numerous 
     frightening health risks.
       I thank you for considering the rights of rape victims 
     before the privacy concerns of rape assailants, as rape 
     victims deserve compassionate help that includes determining 
     whether or not exposure to HIV has occurred.
           Sincerely,
                                                     Deidre Raver.
                                 ______